


In the Middle

by Queen_Slytherpuff



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Cinderella Elements, F/F, Fairy Tale Retellings, Fairy!Sasha James, Fluff, Happy Ending, Idiots in Love, Lord!Jonathan Sims, M/M, Mild Transphobia, Multi, Romantic Soulmates, Trans Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Trans Martin Blackwood, Trans Tim Stoker (The Magnus Archives), amputee! Alice "Daisy" Tonner, cis whats that, deaf! Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, fairy!Tim Stoker, i can't tag, melanie king is a queen, post war time, royality!melanie king, slight angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:13:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25884889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queen_Slytherpuff/pseuds/Queen_Slytherpuff
Summary: A Cinderella Retelling -In a country recovering from the aftermaths of a two year war, childhood friends, Jon, Martin, and Tim reunite after twelves years apart. Despite the war not affecting Martin or Tim much due to how strong their country was thanks to their new Rulers.  Jon was in the middle of the war suffering its hardships due to being the Right Hand and close friend of Empress Melanie King and Georgie Barker.Only a year after the war ends and Jon heals from his wounds enough does he decide to go home.  Love and Magic follows after.|| this story is in three point of views - Martin, Tim, and Jon.
Relationships: Basira Hussain/Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Georgie Barker/Melanie King, Georgie Barker/Sasha James/Melanie King, Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist/Tim Stoker, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist/Tim Stoker, Martin Blackwood/Tim Stoker
Comments: 8
Kudos: 31





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xoemely](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xoemely/gifts).



> Hello everyone! I hope you enjoy this story! I already have a few chapter's written already and I will post them every week until the story is complete. The next chapter of this story will be posted on Monday! Also I will add a little TW for each chapter just in case for everyone! because mental health is everything!  
> I think the only TW for this chapter would be parents being terrible.  
> Well, I hope you enjoy it, and please tell me your thoughts in the comments! I really love them! See you Monday!

“It’s your fault, you know.” she whispered as she refused to look at him. Her glassy gaze was transfixed on the rain distorting the image of beautiful greenlands through the window their estate was nestled on.

Martin’s small shaking hands twisting into his shirt as he watched, “Mother?” he asked quietly. He quivered as he stood in the room to his parent’s old room. His mother’s room now. 

An icy bitterness filled his lungs as his mother's glazed eyes twitched at his voice, “You’ve ruined everything, you know? You took everything I loved, you cruel child! If you hadn’t been such a brat - he would still be here.” His mother looked at him then. The ice in his chest spread in almost an instant as he saw the look directed at him. Disgust. “I will never forgive you for what you’ve done to me. ”

He tried to utter an apology through the lump in his throat, but his mother’s face morphed into something cruel. “You horrible child! Just get out,” she spat as she picked up a vase off her side table and threw it at him. “Get out!”

The vase shattered against the wall. He cried out in fear and ran away as fast as he could. His lungs and eyes burned as he ran out of the room, out of the hall, and out of his home, not bothering with the rain soaking through his clothes or wiping away tears. It only mixed with the rain. 

His mother had never looked at him with such disgust or hatred; no one had ever done such a thing before. His mother’s hatred hurt worse than the day he realized his father was never coming back.

He didn’t stop running until he was safely in the small grove of trees his friends had discovered the summer before. The three boys having claimed it as their secret hideout away from everyone. He sat there for hours, sobbing into his arms until he couldn’t cry anymore. It wasn’t until his friends found him after the rains and brought him to a warmer, drier place did he feel a bit better, but the pain never truly left his heart after that cold rainy day.

* * *

  
  


Jon felt cold standing next to his grandmother’s chair despite the hot hearth only a few feet away. He knew what she was going to say; he had known the truth for weeks now. Jon wasn’t an unintelligent child, he noticed the servants sending him pitying looks when they thought he wasn’t looking. Heard them whispering amongst themselves about how unfortunate he was even if he was a rotten child.

He knew his parents were gone. But he didn’t want his grandmother to say what he had been suspecting for months now. It would make it real. He wouldn’t be able to ignore it once it was brought into the light. 

“Your parents are dead, Jon,” his grandmother said with a quiet softness that echoed herpain. “Their ship was lost.” 

He studied the patterns in the chair’s fabric. “Oh.” 

The silence that followed was only broken by the soft crackle of the hearth before his grandmother spoke again. “I’m too old to raise another child, Jon. Much too old to do it on my own. Which is why I’m sending you away to attend a boarding school. I have a friend in York who is willing to house you during time off from school.”

Jon bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from crying, the metallic taste on his tongue his only anchor from an emotional outburst. “Of course, grandmother.”

“You’ll be leaving in spring,.” his grandmother said in response., “You’re dismissed.”

He refused to let himself cry as he walked through the manor, the whispers of the servants seemingly growing louder and louder as he put on a mask of indifference to the news of his parents death. It wasn’t until he was safe from prying eyes, locked away in his room that he let himself cry. Even if the servants of his family manor perceived him as emotionless, stiff, and distant even at the news of his parents death: they were wrong. 

Jon never hurt as much as he did in that moment. The news of his parents death, and the fact that his only living family didn’t want him. That he had no one else. That he would be forced to leave the only friends he ever had, the only people that he cared for and who cared for him, utterly and truly broke his young heart. He was only a child. And now only an orphan. 

* * *

  
  


“You’re leaving?” Tim asked as he stared at Jon in disbelief. His friend fiddled with the book in his lap. An old volume called La Nomida, a book about old fairy tales that he and Martin had bought for Jon only a few months prior. 

“Not until spring.”

“‘ _ Not until spring,’ _ he says,” Tim mocked as he looked up at Martin, who was lying lazily in one of the hammocks that had put up when they found this secluded place of wonder. “Are you hearing this, Martin?”

Martin wasn’t looking at Tim, his lovely dark eyes sadly looking down at Jon from where he was sitting against the tree’s trunk, “You’ll be coming back, right Jon?” he asked quietly, ignoring Tim’s little outburst. Tim could feel something there: he wasn’t blind to it like Jon and Martin were. He hated the idea of them being seperated like this. 

Jon avoided looking at them, his eyes locked permanently something in the grass, “No,” he said softly, his voice quivering slightly. Tim felt his own heart squeeze. “My grandmother is leaving as well. I’m to be sent to a family friend to live with on my days away from school.”

“You aren’t going to be living with her?” Tim asked, scandalized. Jon's mouth was a firm line as he shook his head. “She’s seriously forcing you to live with a complete stranger after everything's happened. That’s bullshit!”

“Tim!” Martin said in shock.

Jon gaped at him before speaking over Martin’s grumbling about curse words. “She’s raised her children, Tim. She shouldn’t have to raise another. She’s just doing what’s best for me while she’s grieving.” 

“It doesn’t sound like the best to me!” Tim practically shouted in response. If his mother were here he knew that she would tell him that he couldn’t stop the inevitable. That just because he was connected to both boys through his magic, that it wasn’t his business to tell them what they should do. His mother was right in some degree but he couldn’t help them if they were split up. It would feel like a hole in his heart and magic. He didn’t want Jon to leave him and Martin. Martin was still coping with his father leaving and his mother’s change. He was trying to help him and he wanted to help Jon through his own grief. He was tempted to just use magic but his mother would never allow him too. 

“Do you think I want to leave, Tim?.” he cried out angrily, “If I could stay I would but I can’t do that to her! I don’t want to be more of a burden to her than I already am.”

Jon wasn’t a burden. No child should ever even think they were a burden for their family. Even thinking of the reality that his friends considering themselves burdens hurt him more than anything, “You aren’t a burden” - he pointed at Jon with a scowl before pointing to Martin - “And neither are you.” 

They both smiled at him shyly before Martin spoke up. “You'll write, won't you? And come back someday.” 

“Yes, of course,” he said with a sharp nod, “As soon as I finish school, I’ll be back. I promise.”

  
  



	2. Chapter 1: On My Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Twelve years have past since they had seen each other, but they always managed to write to each other before the war started. Tim and Martin did at least during the war. They never stopped even when they didn't get a response. Jon, however, never did. They were still waiting a year after the war ended. 
> 
> Jon couldn't bring himself to respond. That's why he was doing this despite his physicians wishes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello folks! Chapter 1 is out and about! There's not any TW that I'm aware of for this chapter. But if there is any pls tell me and I will add it to the chapter notes right here! Hope you enjoy this!

Oooh, If you bled, I bleed the same

Oooh, If you're scared, I'm on my way

Did you run away? Did you run away? I don't need to know

If you ran away, if you ran away, come back home

Just come home

\- Where’s My Love, SYML

\- Twelve years later -

  
  


Martin loved the Market Place. 

The vivid colors of fabrics, the aroma of freshly ground spices, the sound of peoples chatter wafting through the air as he walked amongst the crowds. He absolutely adored it. Traveling to the Market Place to trade was truly his favorite time of the week. He got to experience the life all around him, loud and fast unlike the quiet lonely land his family’s home was nestled on. Not only that he got to visit his friends Tim and Sasha.

He had known Tim almost his entire life: the man having moved here during childhood, quickly drawn to the two outcasts of the town. Martin the boy from the lonely manor in the hills, and Jon the son of the wealthy Sims family up on the Mount. Martin and Jon barely knew each other before Tim came along. He was the glue that pulled them together. 

Neither one had heard from Jon since before the war started. Martin wasn’t even sure if he was still alive. Tim was adamant that the bastard was alive just not able to message them. 

Sasha had showed up in their lives only a month or two after the war ended. She claimed she was a traveller from an unknown land, always roaming and never tied to a single place. That was over a year ago, and she was still here with them. Working alongside Tim in his stall at the Market selling spices, charms, and magic teas. She just slid into their life perfectly. Martin loved her. 

The Market Place on a Thursday wasn’t any different then any other day for Martin. The streets were filled with people in the brisk morning air, trading and buying things that would get them through the rest of the week.   
Martin himself was carrying a basket of eggs, narrowly missing a messy mishap as he quickly shuffled around people to get toward Tim’s stall down the walkway. The only thing visible to him was the stalls chaotic stylized sign but he could hear Tim booming over the jabber of the crowd. 

"We have it all folks! Charms, Teas, Spices," Tim called as Martin finally made it through the crowd without breaking a single egg in his basket. Martin rolled his eyes at Tim who was smiling down at a pretty blonde woman from where he was perched on a tall later, “Of course, we have pretty charms for such pretty people.” He gave her a sly wink as he showed her more charms. 

It was incredibly impressive on Tim’s part. Managing to make a sale by flirting. The last time Martin had tried to help out at Tim’s shop it had been disastrous. He didn’t have the looks, charms or skills to convince people to buy items. He barely sold anything. Whereas Tim was pale, tall, and lean with a strong jawline framed with messy auburn hair and green eyes, Martin was short and soft with dark eyes and curls only a shade dark then his brown skin. People just prefered Tim’s looks then to his and Martin understood that. Tim was incredibly handsome. 

As he got closer, Tim found that moment to look in his direction. His flirtatious smirk, turning into a wide bright smile as he caught sight of Martin. He couldn’t help but shyly return the smile, “Martin! I wasn’t expecting . . . O-oh, please excuse me.” he directed at the customer who looked disgruntled at Tim’s attention being torn away from her, “I’ll have my lovely assistant Sasha ring you up.” It 

Sasha hit him gently on shoulder as she took over for him, “Assistant? Ha!” she started to pack away the jewelry for the young woman as Martin stepped into the stall. The woman glared at Martin but he ignored it. It wasn’t his problem if she didn’t like Tim’s attention directed at him. 

Tim immediately pulled him into a hug, “Tim, careful!” he warned as he made sure the eggs weren’t going to be crushed. “I’d rather not be covered in yolk and I’m sure you wouldn’t either.”

“Well it’s worth it if I get a hug from you, sir!” Tim said as he hugged him tighter before pulling away to look at him. Still smiling as brightly as when he first saw him approach. It was a little overwhelming at times, having Tim’s bright smile directed at him, but it always made him feel warm and wanted. “I wasn’t expecting you til tomorrow!”

“I needed a few things,” Martin started as he thought of his mother, who was bedridden with illness currently, “Mom's not feeling well. I was hoping to trade a basket of eggs with you for some of your mother's medicine.”

There was a flash of something across Tim’s face before the joyful look came back, “Ah,” he said in understanding, “I have some medicine in the boxes I’ll go look for them.” 

As he walked over to the back of the stall, Martin set the basket down out of the way before leaning against one of the stalls beams in the front watching as Sasha finished with a customer. The young woman gave him one final glare over her shoulder as she left. Martin tried to not let it bother him, “Can you believe people like that, Martin?” Sasha whined as she leaned back to look at him, “As soon as Tim left her mood changed dramatically. Honestly surprised she even bought the charms.”

It wasn’t surprising, people had been the same way to him when he worked the stall with Tim before Sasha befriended them. People were always charmed by Tim, he had that way with people. He told Sasha as much. 

“God, I know.” she said with a grin, “Luckily for them we know the real Tim. A rude man down to his core,”

“Oh yes, a very rude man.” he said with a serious nod, trying his best to not let his amusement show, “He did call you his lovely assistant after all.”

Sasha's eyes twinkled at that, “As if I’m his assistant, Martin. More like he’s my assistant with me practically keeping the shop afloat.” she said loudly just as Tim walked back with a few bottles in his arms, “Tim’s just a pretty face that happens to get people to buy items.”

“What is this?” he said with a mock hurt, “Bullying Tim hour?”

“It’s always bullying Tim Hour!” Martin shot back before he and Sasha burst into a fit of giggles at the site of Tim’s gobsmacked look. 

“Oh, woe is I! I thought I had friends!” he said dramatically pretending to cry. The corner of his lips twitching into a smile as he did, “Oh the betrayal! The heartache! How will I ever recover!?” 

“Oh this is such a tragedy!” Martin claimed sarcastically as he laughed along with Sasha. They loved teasing Tim as much as Tim loved teasing them both when he got the chance. Tim shot him another bright smile at that, “How ever will you forgive us?”

“Well,” Tim drawled smoothly with a mischievous look, “I’m very fond of your sweet bread.”

“I am too!” Sasha chimed in as Martin shook his head with a little laugh. 

“Sure. I’ll bring it to you saturday then,” he said as he matched Tim and Sasha’s smile. The sweet bread he made was something he was surprised that the two liked. If Martin was being honest with himself, it was a complete accident it happened. It was late and he was rushing to make dinner for his mother when he accidently mixed the wrong ingredients. His mother hadn’t liked it at all. But when Tim showed up the next morning and snagged one for himself his friend adored it. 

Tim cheered in victory, “Perfect!” he paused looking at the bottles in his arms before setting them on the table, pulling out one from under the stall’s table. “I almost forgot to get a bag for you.”

Martin focused on the bottles, eyes widening as he realized how many were there. Five similar purple bottles filled with medicine and another clear bottle with a golden liquor. That was way too much, way more than a trade for a simple basket full of eggs. By the bottle, the medicine Tim’s mother made was much more than what Martin could afford, but Tim was always insistent that a basket of eggs covered it. “Tim that’s way too much!” he scowled as Tim shrugged, “I don’t need that much, only a bottle!”

“It’s fine, Martin.” Tim said calmly as he packed it away, “Having extra just in case never hurts.”

“Your mothers always under the weather, Martin. It’s best to have them on hand.” Sasha agreed as Martin glowered at that. He knew it was true but it didn’t stop him from feeling any less guilty about it. Tim and his mother were losing profit because of it. “Besides the sweet bread basically covers it,”

“I guess,” Martin said weakly as he caught Tim smiling as he placed the clear bottle into the bag, “But what about the clear bottle! That’s not a necessity.”

“Oh hush, Martin.” Tim replied as he tied the bag shut before handing it to Martin, “It’s a gift from Danny, he wanted to make sure I got it to you.”

Martin made a face at that, he didn’t want people to spend anything on him. Even if it warmed his chest to know Tim's younger brother was thinking of him on his travels, he didn’t want Danny to waste his money on him.

Danny had only left a few years ago, but Martin still missed Tim’s younger brother at times having grown up alongside Tim. Even if he was annoying sometimes in youth, Martin was too nice to ever voice that unlike Tim. 

“It’s really good, Martin.” Sasha said as she hopped up onto a stole, moving one of her dark curls behind her ear as she continued, “He got all of us a bottle.”

“Honestly surprised that he did that. It’s top notch stuff too!” Tim said with a grin, “Personally, I think he’s trying to show off.”

Martin softly hit Tim on the shoulder as he adjusted the bag he was holding, “He’s just thinking of you, Tim.”

Tim scoffed playfully, “Oh I’m sure! He’s rubbing elbows with royals in other countries of course he’s thinking of his big old brother.”

They all laughed loudly at that, continuing to joke around with each other before another customer caught their attention. Sasha rushed to help with what they needed as Martin figured it was best if he headed home to go help his mom. 

Tim nodded in understanding, “Alright, I’ll see you this saturday then. I’m excited for your sweet bread,”

“Oh, is that all you care about from me,” Martin joked lightly, “You only care about my cooking.”

“Why of course, Martin! Why wouldn’t that be all I cared about? ” Tim teased back as he walked him out of the stall, Tim’s hand on his lower back as he smiled at him, “I’ll see you Saturday. I’ll make sure to have the tea you liked stocked.”

“Great! I’ll make sure to make enough for all of us to share and for you to have extra for the next week. Which should last you since Danny isn’t there to eat it all. ” Martin said as he started to walk toward the traffic of people, holding the bag close to his chest so they wouldn’t break. 

“No promises!” Tim called after him, his laugh sounding through the air like church bells. Martin grinned in response as he ventured through the crowd. He couldn’t stop smiling as he took the long walk back home. Tim always made him smile like this even after Jon had left. Tim still managed to bring the joy to their lives even though they were hurting over missing a close friend. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Tim couldn’t help but watch as Martin disappeared into the crowd, a fond dopey smile gracing his lips just like all the other times after Martin came to visit them while working. It always managed to make his day much better, even when he had to deal with all the rude customers. 

When he went back into the stall to help Sasha, the customer had already bought what they wanted and left. Tim let out a relieved sigh at that while Sasha gave him a twinkling look as he picked up the eggs, the dopey smile on his face returning as he placed them on a stool out of the way so they wouldn’t get crushed. 

“God, you have it bad.” she laughed as she leaned against the stalls table. 

“I do not.” he said with a raised eyebrow as he busied himself organizing some things in the stall. He was well aware of how bad he had it for Martin. After all, Martin was his intended and he couldn’t help it even if he tried. He absolutely adored Martin.

“You really do,” she teased, “You don’t even like eggs Tim! Your mother is going to hit you when she sees you bring more eggs home. ”

Tim just made a face at her, “Yeah well.” he said with a light shrug. But still internally cursed himself, his mother was going to tell him off for it. They had more than they really needed because Martin always brought them eggs for trading at the stalls, but he couldn’t say no when it was all Martin had to trade. Especially when Martin refused to accept anything Tim offered without having something to trade in return. It irritated Tim, but he understood from Martin’s place. 

“I really hope I’m not as bad as you when I meet my intended’s,” Sasha said as she helped him start organizing things, “You’re just awful and that’s only with one. I can’t even imagine how you were when both of them were here.”

“I was younger then, Sasha.” Tim tsked as he thought back to when he had both Martin and Jon with him. It’d been years since he’d seen Jon, they were all in their early teens when his grandmother sent him away. It hurt when Jon’s letters stopped coming, but that was right when the war first started. The country had a hard time with mail at the time, the only news being war related. He feared for Jon, his magic reacting strongly as his anxieties grew but his mother helped him through it. His magic would let him know if Jon had died, he would feel it down to the core of his being. 

When the war ended a year ago, he expected to receive a letter everyday after. His hopes crashed every time he realized it was only from his brother rather than Jon. It hurt a lot and he didn’t understand why Jon wouldn’t write to either of them. 

Sasha startled him out of his thoughts by waving a hand in front of his face, “Hey you still with me hot stuff?” Sasha teased, “You’ve been staring at that cloth for nearly five mintues.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Tim said as he looked at Sasha with a sheepish grin, “What were you saying?”

Sasha rolled her eyes at him, but smiled as she continued organizing things, “I said, I should probably just ask Mrs.Stoker if you were just as bad then as you are now.” 

Tim gave her a wide eyed look as he shook his head quickly, a blush rising to his cheeks as he looked at the evil woman next to him, “Please don’t.” he stressed and she just laughed at him. 

Tim knew his mother would most definitely recount how besotted he was with Martin and Jon when he first met them. They were his best friends and his mother would definitely gossip to Sasha about it. Sasha after all was a family friend of theirs and the only other faery outside their family in this country, her own magic pulling her to this country to find her own intended. 

Tim was lucky to have found them so young, not having to have the pleasure of roaming the different countries in search of his intended like Danny or Sasha had too. He was lucky. 

But part of him, wanted to take Martin and search for Jon. His magic sang for him too late at night when he missed him most.

Tim and Sasha spent the rest of the day at the stall, making a good amount of profit from the Market Place as usual, before heading to their homes in opposite directions. It was almost nightfall, the sun setting over the rolling hills and trees, gold beams of sunlight mixing with shadows along the trail as he headed home. 

Walking up the stone trail to his family’s cottage, the smoke pillowing up from cottages' stone chimney as he passed the gardens and small pools of water full of life, Tim smiled as he opened the door to his childhood home. 

His mother was tending to the fireplace and looked up with wise striking greens, similar to his own, focusing on his smile before the basket of eggs in his arms with a heavy frown. Tim knew that he was going to hear an earful as soon he stepped through the door.

“Timothy Stoker,” she scowled at him, “We do not need any more eggs! You’re wasting eggs that that poor boy could sell for coin!”

“Mom, he won’t take anything I offer him without trading anything in return!” Tim countered with, “I’ve been trying for years now!”

He walked closer to the fire, toward his mother who was giving him a stern look, “Timothy, sweetie, we barely use them. You hate them. Why not have him trade something else?” She kept stirring in the small cauldron hanging in the fireplace. Tim wasn’t sure what she was working on but it made the house smell like fresh lilies and sunlight. 

“I’m not sure what he would be willing to trade instead of eggs,” Tim muttered weakly.

“Why not sweet bread? Or perhaps flowers from his garden,” she offered while pushing her auburn hair out of her face, “They would be lovely in our home or your room.”

Warm tingles started in his fingertips, spreading up his arms and to his chest suddenly. Not responding to his mother’s words as he basked in the feeling, the warm, rightness pooling inside him. He almost dropped the eggs he had been carefully holding to his chest when his magic swirled up in excitement. He felt it so strongly that his body sung with warmth and happiness. He has only felt this once before when he was much younger. 

He just stared at his mother with amazed excitement, she looked up with a curious expression as she stared up at her son. Through the haze of his excitement he saw understanding in her eyes as he practically shook, “I can feel him, mom.” he spoke as a bright smile spread across his face, “Jon’s coming home.”

* * *

  
  


The thundering of hooves and sharp orders from their coachman was unpleasant even from within their carriage. The past three days were miserable for Jon, constantly dealing with his growing boredom, aching body, whistling hearing aids.. 

Jon grimaced as one of his aids started ringing throughout the carriage. Quiet curses slipped from his mouth as he quickly removed the one whistling. Given his own discomfort he couldn’t imagine how Daisy was feeling. 

Daisy looked up at him from her book as Jon fiddled with one of his hearing aids. He could still hear her but it was faint, “You alright there, Jon?” she asked. 

“Momentarily, ” Jon grumbled but he managed to stop it, “I’m still not well equipped with them, I suppose. ” 

Jon was grateful for the gifts given to him by the Empress. Melanie had made sure he and Daisy had the best care in the country when they were finally saved. It was still difficult for them both to adjust to everything. Daisy still had trouble with her prosthetic leg, healing scars, and nightmares. Not to mention Jon’s own troubles. 

It had taken him a couple of the months after the war to heal enough for his own aids, although they were a bit of a hassle still he liked to think he was getting used to them. 

“You’ve only had them for a few months now. It takes a while,” she said knowingly. She still had trouble with using her own prosthetic aid, Daisy understood more than anyone.

He shrugged, “I know, I just wish they were . . .” he trailed off with a soft sigh as he looked at the one in his hand. It was a soft purple color, with a piece that fit comfortably in his ear with a cuff that held it in place. It was comfortable but his ears were still in the process of healing after all the trauma he endured. He loved having them, he just wished it was a bit easier, “It’s just been a long carriage ride.”

Jon put his hearing aid back in as Daisy groaned in sympathy, “It really has been. I’m ready for it to end.” Daisy stressed as she placed her book next to her where her own prosthetic leg was laying on the carriage seat. It was the same color as Daisy’s eyes, a stormy blue, but it didn’t pull you in quiet like her eyes did.

“Well, good news is I think we’re only a few hours away. I recognize this land,” Jon smiled as he pushed open the carriages curtains to the deep green forests and rolling hills. He felt nervousness spike in him at the thought of being back to his homelands.

“How long has it been since you’ve been to your family manor?” she asked.

“A long time.” he answered, “Almost twelve years now or more, I believe.”

“That’s a long time to be away from people you love,” Daisy had a knowing glint in her eyes as Jon gave her a confused look. 

“What do you mean?” Jon asked her and she just grinned at him. 

“The two you’ve talked about since school: the famous Tim and Martin.” she teased as Jon flushed brightly at that, “The ones you constantly wrote too.”

Jon didn’t know what she was implying at that, but he could guess. “I suppose,” he said carefully as her eyes lit up, “They’re my friends after all.” Her face fell. 

Her lips were stretched into a thin line as she looked at him, “Sure, Jon.” It was quiet for a while after that. Jon lost in thoughts of his old friends and Daisy going back to reading her old novella. 

He hadn’t written to Tim or Martin in over three years - not even during the months after the war when he was stuck in the hospitalization ward. Jon read every single letter they had sent him during the war during his recovery, but he never had the strength to write them back. That’s why he was going back to his family manor against his physicians wishes. 

Daisy, of course, had insisted going with him much to his own protests and their physicians. Daisy was still regaining her strength, her pale frame still frail from what she had endured. Despite this, her scarred face was strong with eyes like lightning. They both gave in to her and Jon was happy for her to be here with him. Even if he did feel guilty about it. They’ve only had each other's company for so long, during and after the war especially. Jon loved her - she was his closest friend. 

After a while of stretching silence Jon spoke quietly to Daisy, “I’m worried.” She looked at him with a question, “I haven’t seen them in so long. I’m worried they’ll hate me now.”

“Why do you think they’d hate you?” she inquired, “Because of the letters?”

Jon rubbed his face as he fought against his growing worry, “Yes. I think. I just fear that they will. The last letter I sent them was over three years ago and they’ve sent me so many letters since then,” Jon sighed, “I could have written them back when we were in the ward. But I couldn’t bring myself to.”

“Jon, I’m sure that they’re both just worried about you more than anything.” Daisy offered, “It’s something I feared with Basira, but she accepted me as I am. They will too,”

“That’s impossible to know for sure, Daisy.” he stressed, leaning back in his seat as he rubbed his face. 

“It might be, but you told me the same thing when I refused to see Basira. ” Daisy responded with a look. Jon knew that look, it was a look that told him he wasn’t being very smart at the moment. “Take your own advice and take the chance.”

Jon knew she was right, but by god he didn’t want to admit it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright folks that's it til next Monday! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! it was really fun to write! Feel free to comment your thoughts down below because I absolutely would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter! Comments bring me so much joy! Monday is my schedule for posting for this story! See ya then!


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